Thursday, June 14, 2007

Take this object, but beware...

A quick survey of Flames fans to this move reveals reactions from 1 to 10, that number of course referring to the number of 'O's in the NOOOO!!!!

I'll probably wait to hear what the org and the man himself have to say at the presser before I settle into an opinion, but a few things:

Keenan has 1 Cup and 3 other SCF appearances. That's good.

The last was in 1994... 14 years removed from the '08 playoffs. That's bad.

There is no chance of a serious power struggle between Keenan and his superiors. That's good. Ken King has presided over the Flames from a state of near-relocation to the present, where they're one of the most popular, profitable clubs in the league -- a big dog. Ownership appreciates him. Sutter is practically King's hero. Those two guys are as secure as it gets, and everybody knows it.

Mike Keenan might just be a terrible coach. That's bad. You'll read in all the news stories that this is his 8th NHL team, and that he wears out his welcome rather quickly with the players and/or the bosses everywhere he goes. This nugget probably won't be in most: since 1995/96 with the Blues, he has coached precisely one entire, beginning-to-end season. That's stunning.

Playfair is out as HC. That's good. I have yet to get around to a proper debriefing of this past Flames' season, but the short version is that from about mid-season on (when their record did not reflect how well they were playing, especially at EV), the PP got better and everything else got quite a bit worse. That reflects poorly on his performance, as does the fact that the best defense you can construct for him (the players play, coach doesn't take a shift) applies equally to the worst coaches in the history of the NHL. There was simply no reason to think things would be better next season.

Playfair is sticking around at AC? [pause] (That's bad) Yeah, I think that's bad. Whatever damage happened with player relationships and respect during JP's stint as the main man is a bell that cannot be un-rung. It makes a lot more sense to me (assuming he's not fired outright) to send him to Omaha Quad Cities to be the AHL coach, and bring Ryan McGill up to the big club. Or better yet, let Keenan hire someone he wants.

There is not going to be wholesale changes to the top end of the roster in the offseason. That's good. I heard Scott Taylor on the radio this morning opining that this means there's going to be a lot of turnover so that Keenan can get "his guys". I just don't see it. Apart from the fact that Sutter is going to remain as GM/HNIC (and that Keenan has accomplished fuck-all with his guys the last 3 places he coached), his hiring only makes sense if the goal is to win right now, as the sand falls through the hourglass on a whole bunch of favourable contracts.

Put another way, Keenan was hired to coach this team and succeed, now. Will he? Recent history says no, but my opinion at first blush is that bringing him in is definitely a less worse option than sticking with Playfair. And, a lot of the options available to him in previous jobs that he is known to screw up (mainly poor and/or expensive player personnel decisions) are simply not available to him here; the job is to coach the team, and surely this is all crystal clear to him as he accepts it.

P.S. Line of the day so far goes to Mike Richards In The Morning, on The FAN960: "I'm not sure why all these people in Edmonton are so happy about this. When I look at what the Oilers are up against this offseason and in the upcoming season, well, if I had a laugh-track machine it would be smoking."

"I'm not sure why all these people in Edmonton are so happy about this. When I look at what the Oilers are up against this offseason and in the upcoming season, well, if I had a laugh-track machine it would be smoking."

Ooh, what a burn. He really nailed us. We'll see how his team is at the end of next season.

BWAAAHAAAHAAAAAAA. I can't wait til the draft, and the first signs of acrimony.

Denial : "This can't be happening." Anger : "WTF Sutter?!" Bargaining : "As long has he realizes he has no hope of being GM, maybe he can actually coach?"Depression : "He hasn't been in the playoffs since 1996. [Editor's note: Seriously! 1996!]Acceptance : "Playfair had to go. How could Keenan really be worse?"

This is baffling. Seriously. Just indefensible on every level. And I'm not even a Flames fan

I'm missing this whole Huselius controversy. His productive time in Florida was when Keenan was the coach; it was after Keenan moved upstairs that Huselius struggled. Is the idea here that there'll be a problem (personality conflict?) because GM Keenan traded him?

I actually think that this is a good hire, if only because Keenan has done well with veteran teams that had talent and his real disasters involve him having the levers as GM as well. This Flames team has some talent and I assume that he'll squeeze whatever talent is in place to produce.

That said, I can't be the only one who's eagerly awaiting the first blowup with a player. My money is on Keenan/Phaneuf. There's an apocryphal (?) story about him calling in Pronger's parents and telling them that their son was an alcoholic. I eagerly await his encounter with Phaneuf's parents, who I assume are gun toting semi-literate hill people.

Well, let's start with sketching out the goalposts for 07/08 shall we? The Flames return with a veteran team, with very solid goaltending (usually), good defense, average forwards. I'd expect this team to return to the playoffs and make the conference final, barring injuries to key personnel (Kipper, Tanguay, etc).

The danger for Sutter, is that he may be hiring Keenan to get the most out of this years Flames, but what about further down the road? Keenan isn't going to want to stick it out as coach if the Flames have to rebuild after 08, he's going to want to manage.

Well, let's start with sketching out the goalposts for 07/08 shall we? The Flames return with a veteran team, with very solid goaltending (usually), good defense, average forwards. I'd expect this team to return to the playoffs and make the conference final, barring injuries to key personnel (Kipper, Tanguay, etc).

The danger for Sutter, is that he may be hiring Keenan to get the most out of this years Flames, but what about further down the road? Keenan isn't going to want to stick it out as coach if the Flames have to rebuild after 08, he's going to want to manage.

It's clear this is a one year hire. They'll give Keenan a two-year contract at MAX, and simply let him walk at the end of it. Somehow I doubt that the powers-that-be in Flame-land would be dumb enough to put Keenan in charge of player personnel moves.

If they are, we'd be seeing Kiprusoff dealt for Andrew Raycroft, Hal Gill, and Darcy Tucker, and they'd throw in Giordano just to make the deal go. (NOTE: I had trouble thinking of something equally asanine to the Luongo deal, so that's my best stab at it).

this is a brilliant move by suttler. keenan, without any GM bs 2 deal with (where he admittedley is in way over his head), is a coach PAR EXCELLANCE. seriously--go look in the books and see what he can do to motivate a team. the miracle in manhattan anyone? keenan is about results, getting things done, giving slow-pokes a kick in the seat of their pants when they need it, and an effectionate pat on the back when its deserved.

great work by sutter. i cant wait until the draft and the ufa signings and trades--this season could potentially by off the charts for the new calgary flames

And meanwhile, in oilerville: lowe will probaply make a last-ditch effort to save his team by trading some key players like smith, staios, horcoff, or stoll in order to get one season with a top RFA or second-tier player. this season is going to be brutal for the coilers. while calgary will soar.

Second: are you the same douchebag that once posted as Rejean31 on Oilfans and was banned after multiple instances of trolling?

Last time I checked, the only score that STILL matters in the Battle of Alberta is 5-1. Unless you also want to take Grey Cups into consideration....in which case it's 18-6.

Bottom line: Calgary sucks, bitch. The Keenan hire is a move to attempt to take advantage of a passing opportunity to narrow said "gap" between Edmonton & Calgary in terms of ultimate success, but it is also a move with a high potential to blow up in the Flames' collective faces.

hey sweatyo and all other spOILERS fans: check out teh front page of LOWETIDE and weep. yep the only actual thinking blogger in the "oiLOLogosphere" agrees that the keenan hire is a tremendous move by the flames and that the cOIL will get the "snot" beat out of them.

when will you guys wake up and smell the folgers in youre cup: the flames are only a tweak or two away from making it to the conference finals, and possibly more

haha, the truth hurts donn'it? u laugh from youre ivory pedastal in coilerville edmonton while spewing utter incoherancy, not realizing that the flames are more dangerous than ever and hte oilers are going 2 be even worse off next season under the disasterous "leadership" of kevin blow.